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State Rep. John Barrett III has filed a number of amendments to the state budget he hopes to get included in the final version.

Barrett Enters His First State Budget Debate, Sets Eyes on RTAs

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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This is the fourth in a series of interviews with the Berkshire representative delegation on local budget priorities for fiscal 2019. The other interviews were with state Rep. Paul Markstate Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and state Rep. William Pignatelli.
 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Rep. John Barrett III is looking to make a statement with a state budget amendment for regional transit.
 
Barrett said one penny on the sale tax ends up in the hands of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and the rest of the regional transit authorities are getting shortchanged. This year, the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is considering hiking fares and reducing services as costs have increased but state support has remained level for the third consecutive year.
 
"The reason I put $8.4 million in my amendment is because I just want to drive it home that what I was requesting came to 1/10 of a penny," Barrett said.
 
Barrett said another representative had put in an amendment for an $8 million increase for the RTAs, which he'll support. But his efforts are to make a case for the public transit system in Berkshire County to be bolstered.
 
"Sixteen percent of the sales tax goes to the operation of the MBTA, which comes to statewide $1 billion a year. In Berkshire County, $31 million went out and at the same time, for the last three years, there wasn't any increase for the RTA here or any place else for that matter. We have no service on Sunday," Barrett said. 
 
The House of Representatives is taking on the budget this week and with that, Barrett has put in a number of amendments for programs he'd like to see happen in his district.
 
With one of those amendments, the North Adams Democrat is also looking to help schools retain programming. The governor's and the House Ways and Means' budget calls for increases for Chapter 70 school aid. But those increases are based on per pupil.
 
While local schools will see increases this year, Barrett is hoping to carve out another niche funding for an area like Berkshire County where population trends are dropping.
 
"Most [towns] are at their max. Most of them don't have the ability to raise any more money, short of a Prop 2 1/2 [override]. A lot of programs are being cut and education is suffering in some of these communities," Barrett said. 
 
He's asking for $8 million to help schools fund programs that are often cut from local budgets.
 
"The caveat I put on this is that communities could apply for this money if they meet certain criteria. You have to have declining population, which Berkshire County has had. Your average family income couldn't be more than 75 percent of the statewide average. And that the unemployment rate had to be at 1.5 percent above the state average. It was targeted at some of the poorer communities in the district."
 
But that, too, also is intended to make a statement. He said he'd like that amendment to help continue the conversation about changing the entire Chapter 70 formula, an effort that has been picking up steam among legislators recently.
 
Also related to schools, Barrett has filed an amendment to create a workforce training program with McCann Technical School. He said through that program, businesses will tell school officials exactly what jobs they need filling. McCann would then open a program teaching those skills to local unemployed people. 
 
The state would fund 90 percent of the worker's salary -- the employer would pay the health care -- for six months during the program. The worker will alternate between spending two weeks at McCann learning the skills and then two weeks working for those six months.
 
"I've found this is what employers need. This saves the employer, the business, money, it also provides money for real on the job training," said Barrett.
 
Barrett said he's looking to have a program similar to that of BerkshireWorks, the state's employment and training program he ran for two years. He specifically mentioned training programs for such industries in information technology and manufacturing.
 
Another amendment Barrett is seeking is $150,000 for a feasibility study to upgrade the county's internet. He said seven towns stretching from north to south are on board with the effort to find out what it will take to keep up with emerging technologies.
 
"We have to continue to upgrade or we are going to be in the same place we were 25 years ago when it cost $3,000 a month to get a T1 line in," Barrett said.
 
That is a separate effort from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute's program to bring internet to all parts of the state. While there are corners of Massachusetts still without any high-speed internet, others have systems that could soon be antiquated.
 
"A lot of people are working in their homes now. You have to have high-speed internet. Small companies want to come here and they need that ability," Barrett said.
 
He doesn't think Spectrum, the local cable provider, will keep up with emerging technology in Western Massachusetts in the future.
 
"We don't have that much confidence that Spectrum has the ability. So there has to be some competition," Barrett said. "This would be an alternative than Spectrum."
 
Barrett's amendments are among some 1,400 total that had been filed to the proposed budget. Once the House and Senate come to terms with their budget versions, the two sides of the Legislature will negotiate a final version.
 
This will be the longtime North Adams mayor's first budget in the State House so he doesn't quite know yet how the debate will unfold. But he feels the House's Ways and Means budget overall is a good start to the process.

Tags: barrett,   fiscal 2019,   state budget,   state representative,   

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Clarksburg Gets 3 Years of Free Cash Certified

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Town officials have heaved a sigh of relief with the state's certification of free cash for the first time in more than three years.
 
The town's parade of employees through its financial offices the past few years put it behind on closing out its fiscal years between 2021 and 2023. A new treasurer and two part-time accountants have been working the past year in closing the books and filing with the state.
 
The result is the town will have $571,000 in free cash on hand as it begins budget deliberations. However, town meeting last year voted that any free cash be used to replenish the stabilization account
 
Some $231,000 in stabilization was used last year to reduce the tax rate — draining the account. The town's had minimal reserves for the past nine months.
 
Chairman Robert Norcross said he didn't want residents to think the town was suddenly flush with cash. 
 
"We have to keep in mind that we have no money in the stabilization fund and we now have a free cash, so we have now got to replenish that account," he said. "So it's not like we have this money to spend ... most of it will go into the stabilization fund." 
 
The account's been hit several times over the past few fiscal years in place of free cash, which has normally been used for capital spending, to offset the budget and to refill stabilization. Free cash was last used in fiscal 2020.
 
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